International Women’s Day is a day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. Among many are inspiring leaders and change makers that have laid a road for others to follow. Dawn O’Neil is an example of one such inspiring leader that we are fortunate at eWater Systems to work with and learn from everyday.
Dawn has more than 20 years’ leadership experience in both the social and commercial sector and among many titles she is the former CEO of Lifeline, Beyond Blue and the founding chair of the social enterprise STREAT. As CEO at Lifeline, she led the organisation from a grouping of 60 centres with a turnover of about $600,000 to a nationally coordinated $14 million-a-year telephone and web network.
In 2007 Dawn joined homelessness social enterprise STREAT has their founding chair, which she led, alongside the founders, for ten years. The resulting legacy is a portfolio of cafes and kiosks, a catering company, an artisan bakery and a coffee roastery, and the foundation and plan in place for further growth.
By 2022, STREAT will reach the equivalent of one young person each mealtime – or 1,095 young people each year.
In recognition of her services and leadership, Dawn was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2009.
Today, Dawn is a Director at eWater Systems and inspiring leader within our organisation. As an active member of our team she provides a wealth of experience, strategic guidance and leadership across the business.
Deeply aligned with our mission to reduce the chemical footprint, Dawn is a leading voice in our business as we work purposefully to support our customers reduce the use of harmful chemicals and packaged waste across their businesses.
Thank you Dawn for inspiring us all.